When: February 13, 2025

Where: Riverside Valley Park, Exeter Quayside, Exeter

Details: Dust off your running shoes, ladies.

It’s a team effort as one of the South West’s most scenic destinations hosts a groundbreaking day of distance running.

At over 26 miles, a marathon is a daunting prospect and a stern test of personal fitness and endurance.

But the Exeter-based Women’s Running Network have launched ‘The Better Half’ - a series of distance running events, first trialled in Cheshire, Wiltshire and East Sussex, where the conventions of the marathon are dispelled.

Participants have the option of running a ’half marathon’ - a distance of 13.1 miles - but if that seems too big an ask, groups of three can split the distance to just over four miles each, a more manageable distance.

Hundreds of women will converge on Riverside Valley Park. Its footpaths and cycleways will be marathon-proofed - free of bumpy terrain, traffic and of course men.

Despite the event being a ‘male-free’ zone, Women’s Running Network co-founder Pauline Beare won’t let anything put a dampener on what promises to be a warm occasion.

“It’s amazing to see all those women out there. We’ve put years of work into the Women’s Running Network, we’ve won quite a few awards for what we do but nothing takes away the excitement of seeing everybody else out achieving and reaching their goals and ambitions because that’s what it’s all about.” Beare said.

More info: www.womensrunningnetwork.co.uk